Valve assembly



July 10, 1934. E, GQSLEE 1,966,294

VALVE AS SEMBLY Filed May 26. 1952 gwuentoz Earl 33 03268 Patented July 10, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT" OFFICE ford Machine Screw C ompany, Hartford, Conn.,

a corporation of Connecticut Application May 26, 1932, Serial No. 613,675

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to valve assemblies, such as are used for controlling the flow of oil, water, air, steam, et cetera, and has for an object to provide an improved. device of this character the initial opening movement of which produces a relatively and exceedingly small opening which gradually increases in size as the valve is opened and the subsequent opening movement of which produces an opening which less gradually increases in size up to a relatively large range.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved device of this character which comprises one piece; that is, the body of the valve and the base bar are formed integral so that all joints and hence all chances of leakage between these members are obviated.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a device of this character which will meet the requirements of the underwriters in that the valve cannot be disassembled by unauthorized persons or the adjustment thereof cannot be inadvertently disturbed since it re-' quires special tools or implements to take the valve apart.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a device of this character in which the ends of the base bar are adapted to interchangeably receive a plug and a sleeve.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a device of this character which is simple in construction, has few parts, is cheap to manufacture, and is not liable to easily get out of order.

Other objects will be in part obvious, and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplifled in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the. accompanying. drawing, wherein is shown, for illustrative purposes, one of the embodiments which the present invention may take,

Fig. 1, is a side elevation of my improved device with parts in section;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 -43 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4. is an enlarged detail view of my device;

Fig. 5 is asection taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view showing the flat surfaces on the valve head.

Referring to the drawing for a. detaileddescription thereof, A generally indicates a base bar of my improved device and which is adapted to be connected to a conduit, such as a pipe X, through which a fluid is flowing, for instance, the fuel supply of an oil burner, not shown, and B indicates generally a valve of my improved device and which is adapted to control the flow of fluid be tween an oil burner or other device and the base bar A with which the body of the valve B is. integrally formed. The base bar A and the body of the valve B may be cast together in one operation. While two of these valves B are illustrated, however, any number of them may be formed upon the base bar A. The base bar A is substantially circular in cross section and is provided with a through central bore 10 and has its opposite ends reduced and externally screw threaded, as at 11 and 12. The base bar A is provided with internal outwardly facing coneshaped seats 11a and 12a at its respective ends. These screw threaded ends are adapted to interchangeably receive the compression elements 13 and 14. In the present illustration, the compression element 13 is shown as applied to the end 11 of the base bar A and comprises a nut 15 which is adapted to be screw threaded upon the end 11 of'the base bar. The nut 15 is provided with an internal conical shaped flange l6 and is adapted to maintain a plug 17 in engagement with the seat 11a of the base bar A. This plug 17 constitutes a part of the compression element 13 and comprises a solid barrel shaped piece of metal having an enlarged centrally disposed portion 18 from which the outer surface of the plug tapers in opposite directions to provide the opposed conical faces 19 and 20 which are shown as seating upon the flange 16 of the nut 15 and the seat 11a of the base bar respectively, however, the positioning of the plug may be reversed.

The opposite end 12 of the base bar A is adapted to receive thereupon the compression element 14 which comprises a nut 21 having an internal conical shaped flange 22 and a sleeve 23 having a through central opening 24. The outer face of the wall of the sleeve is enlarged at the center thereof, as at 25, and tapers from this centrally enlarged portion in opposite directions to form the opposed conical faces 26 and 2'7 which are adapted to be received by the flange 22 of the nut 21 and the seat 12a of the base bar A respectively. Since the ends of the base bar are adapted to interchangeably receive the compression elements 13 and 14, it is clear that either end of the base bar may be used as an inlet. In connecting the pipe X to the base bar, the nut and the compression sleeve may he slipped over the end of the pipe, the end of the pipe with the sleeve thereon may be inserted into the end of the base bar, and then the nut may be screwed home upon the threaded end of the base bar.

The valve B has a body portion 28 provided with an inlet opening 29 which communicates With the central bore 10 of the base bar A. The valve body is also provided with a lateral extension 30 which has an outlet opening 31 in communication with the inlet opening of the valve body and the device, not shown, to which the fluid is to be fed. The free end of the lateral extension 30 is ex ternally screw threaded, as at 32, and is adapted to receive a compression element 33 which is similar to, and has the corresponding parts thereof marked with the same reference numerals as, the compression element 14. The only difference between these compression elements is that the sleeve of the compression element 33 is shorter than that of the compression element 14. The extension 30 is provided with an internal conical seat 34 which is adapted to receive the cooperating conical face 2'7 on the sleeve 23 of the compression element 33.

The valve body is also provided with a substantially circular valve guide 35 and a conical valve seat 36 each of which surrounds the inlet opening 29 in the valve body. The valve body is also provided with a bore 37 which is in alinement with the inlet opening 29 and the wall of which is internally screw threaded, as at 38, and receives therein a screw threaded portion 39 of a valve stem 40.

In order to control the communication between the inlet and outlet openings of the valve body, the valve stem 40 carries at its lower end a valve head 41 which has a substantially circular portion 42 adapted to engage the circular valve guide 35 of the valve body. The valve head 41 also has a conical shaped portion 43 adapted in the closed position of the valve to seat upon the conical seat 36 of the valve body. The valve head 41 is further provided with an extension 44 which projects beyond the lower end of the inlet 29 of the valve body, extends into the bore 10 of the base bar A and is slidably engageable with the wall of the inlet opening. This extension 44 is provided with a flat surface 45 which is formed by cutting off a portion of one side of the extension 44 from a point a where the extension joins the cone shaped portion 43 down to point D which is substantially midway of the ends of the extension 44. This flat surface 45 is cut at a relatively small angle to the longitudinal axis of the valve head 41. A second flat surface 46 is provided on the extension 44 by cutting off a portion of one side of the extension from the point I) to a point e which lies in the plane of the lower face of the extension 44. The fiat surface 46 is cut at a relatively large angle to the longitudinal axis of the valve head 41.

The upper portion of the valve body 28 is hollowed out to form a chamber 47, the wall of which is internally screw threaded, as at 48, and a hollow lower packing member 49, externally screw threaded as at 50, is received by the chamber 47 of the valve body. The hollow member 49 is provided, at the bottom thereof, with an internal conical seat 51, which surrounds the valve stem 40 and overhangs and is closely spaced above the threaded portion 39 of said stem when the valve is closed. The hollow member 49 receives a packing 52 surrounding the valve stem 40 and having its opposite ends cone-shaped, as at 53 and 53, the end 53 seating itself upon the seat 51 of the hollow member 49. An upper packing member or gland 54 having a cone seat 55 engaging the cone face 53 of the packing 52 is provided to hold the packing in the hollow member 49. The upper portion of the valve body 28 is externally screw'threaded, as at 56, and receives thereupon a cap nut 57 which is adapted to press the member 54 downwardly against the packing 52. The valve body is also provided intermediate its ends with a circumferential collar 58 upon which is adapted to seat a dial plate 59. A nut 60 is provided to hold the dial plate in position on the collar 58. Cooperating with the dial plate 58 is an indicator 61 which is carried by, and operatively connected to, the valve stem 40. The indicator 61 is provided with an operating handle 62, and a nut 63 is screw threaded upon the outer free end of the valve stem 40 and engages the pointer 61 to hold the same in position upon the valve stem.

It will be noted that while the screw threads 38 of the valve body 28 and those on the portion 39 of the valve stem are right-hand screw threads, the screw threads 48 of the chamber 4'7 and the screw threads 50 of the hollow member 49 are left-hand screw threads. It will be apparent that by this construction the valve stem 40 will only be capable of being unscrewed a limited amount and, when that limit has been reached, further unscrewing of the Valve stem 40 will cause the portion 39 of the valve stem to engage the under surface of the seat 51 of the member 49 and thereby effect tightening up of the packing member 49 so that it will be impossible to re move the valve stem 40 until the packing member 49 has been removed. This will also prevent the unscrewing of the valve stem into the packing. The packing member 49 is of less height than the chamber 47 and, as shown in Fig. 3, when the member 49 is screwed home, it lies entirely within the confines of the chamber 47 so that it is impossible to obtain a piu'chase on the member with an ordinary tool to remove the same but, as can be seen from Fig. 5, the packing member 49 is provided upon its upper face with the diametrically opposite kerfs 64 which are adapted to receive a suitable tool, that is, a tool having means for accommodating the valve stem and for engaging in said kerfs 64, by means of which the packing member can be rotated and thus unscrewed from the valve body. It is clear, therefore, that the packing member 49 also acts as a lock bushing.

In the operation of the device, assuming that the base bar A has been connected to the pipe X through which a fluid is passing, and it is desired to regulate the flow of this fluid from the base bar to some suitable device, such as an oil burner, and assuming that it is desired to obtain a relatively small flow of the fluid from the base bar A to the oil burner, the indicator 61, together with the valve stem 40 and valve head 41, is rotated counterclockwise the desired amount. If this rotation be relatively small, the valve head will be unseated a corresponding amount and a relatively small opening, that is, an opening equal to the distance between the flat surface 45 and the wall of the inlet opening, will be afforded for the inlet of the fluid to the oil burner. Since the extension 44 projects into the bore 10 of the base bar and slidably engages the wall of the inlet, the flow will be controlled by the fiat surfaces on the extension 44 rather than at the orifice at the valve seat. It

will be observed that due to the small inclination of the flat surface 45, upon initial rotation of the valve head the opening thereof will be relatively small and will gradually increase in size up to the point I) and, upon further rotation of the valve head, the opening thereof will be more rapidly increased due to the greater inclination of the flat surface 46.

It will be noted that my improved valve assembly may be relatively cheaply produced since the base bar A and the valve body 28 may be cast in one operation and thus no joints are formed around which leakage may occur. The flat surfaces on the valve head are easily made by milling the same until the desired inclination is obtained. The base bar A is also formed so that its opposite ends are adapted to interchangeably receive the solid compression plug 17 or the compression sleeve 23. The use of the solid compression plug 1'? eliminates any possibility of leakage at the end of the base bar A which is likely to occur when a threaded pipe plug is employed.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a valve assembly. a base bar having a fluid passageway, a hollow valve body having a valve seat and an in et opening into said passageway and an outlet communicating with said inlet, and a valve head adapted to control communication between said inlet and outlet, said valve head having an extension projecting into said passageway when the valve is seated and slidably engageable with the wall of the inlet, said extension being provided with a flat surface having a re atively small angle of inclination to the longitudinal axis of said valve head, and a second flat surface having a relatively large angle of inclination to the longitudinal axis of said valve head, whereby the fiat surfaces control the flow of fluid from the passageway to the outlet.

2. In a valve assembly, a valve body having an inlet and an outlet, and a screw threaded bore, a valve stem disposed in said bore and having a screw threaded portion engaging the screw threads of said bore, said valve body having an internally screw threaded chamber outwardly of said bore, an externally screw threaded hollow member adapted to be screwed into said chamber and having a portion disposed in the path of said screw threaded portion of the valve stem, the threads on the bore and valve stem on the one hand and the threads on the chamber and hollow member on the other hand being in opposite directions, whereby the valve stem may be unscrewed until the screw threaded portion thereof engages the hollow member and further unscrewing of the valve stem will screw the 1101- low member tighter into the chamber to prevent the removal of the valve stem.

3. In a valve assembly, a valve body having an inlet and an outlet, and a screw threaded bore, a valve stem disposed in said bore and having a screw threaded portion engaging the screw threads of said bore, said valve body having an internally screw threaded chamber outwardly of said bore, an externally screw threaded hollow member adapted to be screwed into said chamber and having a portion disposed in the path of said screw threaded portion of the valve stem, the threads on the bore and valve stem on the one hand and the threads on the chamber and hollow member on the other hand being in opposite directions, whereby the valve stem may be unscrewed until the screw threaded portion thereof engages the hollow member and further unscrewing of the valve stem will screw the hollow member tighter into the chamber to prevent the removal of the valve stem, said hollow member being wholly disposed within the confines of chamber when screwed home.

4. In a valve assembly, a valve body having an inlet and an outlet, and a screw threaded bore, a valve stem disposed in said bore and having a screw threaded portion engaging the screw threads of said bore, said valve body having an internally screw threaded chamber outwardly of said bore, an externally screw threaded hollow member adapted to be screwed into said chamber and having a portion disposed in the path of said screw threaded portion of the valve stem, the threads on the bore and valve stem on the one hand and the threads on the chamber and hollow member on the other hand being in opposite directions, whereby the valve stem may be unscrewed until the screw threaded portion thereof engages the hollow member and further unscrewing of the valve stem will screw the hollow member tighter into the chamber to prevent the removal of the valve stem, said hollow memher being wholly disposed within the confines of said chamber when screwed home and having diametrically opposed kerfs adapted to receive a suitable tool for unscrewing said hollow member.

5. In a valve assembly, an integral casting having a pipe-like base bar provided with a through bore, and a valve body formed integrally with said base bar and extending at right angles therefrom, said valve body having an inlet opening leading from the bore of the base bar, the outer end of said opening being conical to form a valve seat, a valve stem extending axially through said valve body and having a head on its forward end provided with a conical portion adapted to engage said seat, said valve body hav ing an outlet opening.

6. In a valve assembly, an integral casting having a pipe-like base bar provided with a through bore, a plug adapted to be received by either end of said bar, a sleeve adapted to be positioned in that end of the bar opposite said plug, means for holding the plug and sleeve in the respective ends of the bar, and a valve body formed integrally with said base bar and extending at right angles therefrom, said valve body having an inlet opening leading from the bore of the base bar, the outer end of said opening being conical to form a valve seat, a valve stem extending axially through said valve body and having a head on its forward end provided with a conical portion adapted to engage said seat, said valve body having an outlet opening.

EARL S. GOSLEE. 

